Purpose: To investigate the association between functional health literacy and sociodemographic factors, quality of life, self-perception of health, and perception of contexts of violence in adolescents in state schools in Belo Horizonte. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analytical observational study with a probabilistic sample of 384 adolescents between 15 and 19 years old. Data collection was carried out in schools and included self-reporting questionnaires to assess the functional health literacy, socioeconomic classification, self-perceived health, and quality of life...

The purpose of the present study was to extend the external validity of an earlier longitudinal study of school leavers by including participants from a representative sample of secondary schools. Questionnaires were administered annually to a sample of South Australian school leavers over a 10-year period. At Time 1 participants were in the last compulsory year of high school aged around 15 years and at Time 10 they were aged around 25 years. Results confirmed those from an earlier longitudinal study showing that the transition from school to satisfactory employment was associated with significant improvements in psychological well-being, whereas transition from school to unemployment or unsatisfactory employment showed no change in psychological well-being...

BACKGROUND: Youth participation in organized sports in the United States is rising, with many athletes focusing on a single sport at an increasingly younger age. PURPOSE: To retrospectively compare single-sport specialization in current high school (HS), collegiate, and professional athletes with regard to the rate and age of specialization, the number of months per year of single-sport training, and the athlete's perception of injury related to specialization. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3...

OBJECTIVE: This study examines whether socioeconomic status (SES), measured at both the individual and neighborhood levels, is associated with receipt of definitive treatment for localized prostate cancer and whether these associations mediate racial differences in treatment between non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black men. DESIGN: The Philadelphia Area Prostate Cancer Access Study (P(2) Access) is a mailed, cross-sectional survey of men sampled from the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry, combined with neighborhood Census data...

INTRODUCTION: In the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF), personnel periodically perform intensive training that mimics the conditions seen in battle and during natural disasters. Military training involves intensive, stressful conditions, and changes in immune responses have been found in personnel following training. Good oral condition is important for military personnel to fulfill their duties; however, they have difficulty performing daily oral care under training conditions...

BACKGROUND: Levels of sitting among adolescents are high, especially during the school day. The acute cognitive and health consequences associated with prolonged sitting are poorly understood in adolescents. This randomized crossover design study examined the acute effects of a simulated school day with reduced sitting or usual sitting on adolescents' cognitive function and cardiometabolic biomarkers. METHODS: Eighteen healthy school aged adolescents were recruited from the community to the study (11 males; 7 females; mean age [SD] = 13...

9H-carbazole is generated from incomplete combustion of diverse fossil fuels and biomass, in tobacco smoke and from industrial processes, while halogenated carbazoles have natural and anthropogenic sources. We analyzed 9H-carbazole and 14 halogenated carbazoles in dust samples from 14 schools, 13 daycare centers, and 13 residences, as well as 5 indoor air samples from residences in Munich, Germany. Overall, we present first data of various carbazoles in different indoor environments without visible combustion sources...

PROBLEM: Childhood obesity has been an epidemic particularly in high-income countries. There is a considerable volume of data and studies depicting the rising number of obese children and adolescents in different countries. As suggested by the literature, physical inactivity is one the main drivers of childhood obesity. This paper addresses the associations of the built environment with physical activity of children in order to find to theoretically facilitate intervention and prevention measures...

This study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine the best model for Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms in children aged 3 to 15 years, as presented in the Disruptive Behavior Rating Scale. Teachers' ratings of the ODD symptoms of 213 children from general community schools in Australia were obtained. The findings provided most support for a bifactor model based on Stringaris and Goodman's [1] three-factor model (primary factors for irritable, hurtful, and headstrong). The general factor, but not the group factors in the model, showed high omega hierarchical and explained common variance...

We report on a study of the effect of peers' interest in high school biology, chemistry, and physics classes on students' STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)-related career intentions and course achievement. We define an interest quorum as a science class where students perceive a high level of interest for the subject matter from their classmates. We hypothesized that students who experience such an interest quorum are more likely to choose STEM careers. Using data from a national survey study of students' experiences in high school science, we compared the effect of five levels of peer interest reported in biology, chemistry, and physics courses on students' STEM career intentions...

The popularity of indoor tanning may be partly attributed to the addictive characteristics of tanning for some individuals. We aimed to determine the association between frequent indoor tanning, which we view as a surrogate for tanning addiction, and food addiction. A total of 67,910 women were included from the Nurses' Health Study II. In 2005, we collected information on indoor tanning during high school/college and age 25-35 years, and calculated the average use of indoor tanning during these periods. Food addiction was defined as ≥3 clinically significant symptoms plus clinically significant impairment or distress, assessed in 2009 using a modified version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale...

Reducing obesity positively impacts diabetes and cardiovascular risk; however, evidence-based lifestyle programs, such as the diabetes prevention program (DPP), show reduced effectiveness in African American (AA) women. In addition to an attenuated response to lifestyle programs, AA women also demonstrate high rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. To address these disparities, enhancements to evidence-based lifestyle programs for AA women need to be developed and evaluated with culturally relevant and rigorous study designs...

Sixty-percent of cancer patients are diagnosed with advanced stages of disease and those diagnosed in early stages face challenges to receive adequate treatment. Palliative care has had significant developments in recent years in Albania, due to a close partnership with the Ministry of Health, local non-profit organizations, and the Open Society Foundation Albania. In 2011, a five-year action plan for palliative care as one of four parts of the National Cancer Control Plan was approved. At the end of 2014, the first palliative care law was approved by Parliament...

BACKGROUND: Recruitment and retention of participants is crucial for statistical power and internal and external validity and participant engagement is essential for behaviour change. However, many school-based interventions focus on programme content rather than the building of supportive relationships with all participants and tend to employ specific standalone strategies, such as incentives, to improve retention. We believe that actively involving stakeholders in both intervention and trial design improves recruitment and retention and increases the chances of creating an effective intervention...

BACKGROUND: To successfully develop and implement school-based sexual health interventions for adolescent girls, such as screening for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Trichomonas vaginalis, it is important to understand parents' and teachers' attitudes towards sexual health education and acceptability of sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening interventions. METHODS: In this qualitative study, we approached parents and teachers from three high schools to participate in in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus-group discussions (FGDs)...

BACKGROUND: Poverty is known as an important determinant of health, but empirical data are still missing on the relationships between poverty, other adverse living conditions, and psychological distress, particularly in low-income countries. This study aimed to assess mental health needs and psychological distress among the poorest in rural settings in Burkina Faso where food security and access to water, electricity, schooling, and healthcare are limited. METHODS: We randomly selected 2000 individuals previously identified as indigents by a community-targeting process...

In this cross-sectional study, we examined the relationships among knowledge about endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), recognition of EDCs-related female reproductive illnesses, concern for the environment, perceived susceptibility to EDCs-related diseases, self- appraisal of exposure to EDCs and health behaviors related to EDCs in adolescent Korean girls. A convenience sample of 218 girls was recruited during July and August 2015 from middle and high schools located in a city in Korea. The self-administered questionnaire incorporated four characteristics of the participants, five related factors, and a dependent variable of health behaviors...

The current study draws on the motivational model of achievement which has been guiding research on the growth mindset intervention (Dweck & Leggett, 1988) and examines how this intervention interacts with incentive systems to differentially influence performance for high- and low-achieving students in Indian schools that serve low-SES communities. Although, as expected, the growth mindset intervention did interact with incentive systems and prior achievement to influence subsequent academic performance, the existing growth mindset framework cannot fully account for the observed effects...